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When you’re in sales, finding the right sales automation software for you and your business is something you have to consider. There’s just no two ways about it!
Especially if at any point in your career you’d like to be able to free up your time to do more important things than sending the same email for the 500th time.
Creating and sending emails to customers and prospects is something salespeople and marketers have been doing for decades now. Sending the same thing over and over, though, is simply put…dreadful.
Fortunately, there are now tools available to help you automate the process of sending emails and making sales.
But what are sales automation tools? Why do you need them? And what are the best sales automation tools out there?
Read on to learn all about sales automation like what you need and what tools are available to make your job more fun.
What is a sales automation tool?
Sales automation is any technology that automates the sales process for businesses, saving time and increasing efficiency. And in order to engage in the automation of your sales, you would need to have well… sales automation software.
These are tools that enable you to automate tasks such as:
- Lead generation
- Lead management
- Sales funnel management
- Sales forecasting
- Analytics and reporting
- etc.
How does it work? 🤔
In other words, sales automation tools are here to make salespeople’s lives so much easier by taking care of the mundane tasks that you don’t need to do.
It’s something that you can build into your sales process so that your team can move onto bigger, better projects and more important tasks.
It’s a ‘set it and forget it’ style that helps you focus on what’s important. The goal is to save you time, energy, and money while bringing sales in!
But what about the other benefits that they provide? Let’s check them out!
Why do you need sales automation?
If you want to increase or encourage sales engagement, automation software is the way to go. Both Marketing and Sales teams rely on automation for many aspects of their jobs. The ability to recreate manual tasks in an automatic tool will allow you to reduce boredom, for starters.
It also will:
- Boost accuracy: Sales automation tools reduce human error and help ensure data is processed correctly, leading to better sales forecasts and decision-making.
- Boost productivity: Automation frees sales reps from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on building relationships with customers and closing deals.
- Keep it consistent: Sales automation tools help sales reps follow the same processes and use the same tools, resulting in more consistent sales outcomes and increased customer satisfaction.
- Personalize like a pro: Automation provides relevant data and insights, allowing sales reps to personalize interactions with customers for more effective sales conversations and increased revenue.
- Get valuable insights: Sales automation tools gather and analyze data on customer behavior and preferences, enabling targeted marketing and sales efforts that can drive revenue growth.
- Scale up with ease: With automation, sales teams can scale their efforts without adding more resources, making it a cost-effective way for businesses to expand their sales efforts.
These are just some of the potential benefits you gain from using sales automation software!
Imagine how much time, energy, and money you could save by shifting to automation.
Now that’s something worth looking into, whether you’re a sales rep looking to streamline your sales process or a manager trying to build an effective sales process from scratch!
How do sales automation tools work?
Until we have autonomous robots, sales automation can only begin with you setting up what you want the software to do. You only have to do the setup work once, after which the software can start taking care of the repetitive tasks for you.
Sales automation tools are designed to enable sales teams to automate their manual B2B processes. With automation, sales reps can easily manage leads and communicate with customers more quickly.
Example 🔍
Imagine you want real-time responses to people who ask you a specific question that is often asked by a customer. Look for a tool that can automate the response to these FAQs without you having to write and rewrite them every time.
For instance, if you’re a LaGrowthMachine user, you’ll be able to:
- Create multichannel (Email+ LinkedIn+ Twitter) outreach campaigns
- Enrich your leads’ data automatically
- Automatically follow up with them based on their responses
- Track email activity and lead/customer engagement
- etc.
You set all this up easily with a couple of clicks, and the software will take it from there.
Get 3.5X more leads!
Do you want to improve the efficiency of your sales department? With La Growth Machine you can generate on average 3.5x more leads while saving an incredible amount of time on all your processes.
By signing up today, you’ll get a free 14-day trial to test our tool!
By automating these low-sales-impact tasks, sales automation tools help streamline the entire sales process and make it easier for your team to focus on building relationships and closing deals.
But how do you do that? What are the features that you can’t possibly live without in a sales automation tool?
What features to look for in your sales automation software?
As mentioned, there are a number of aspects to determine (and write down if it’s easier to see them visually) before you choose a sales automation tool.
Here are some main points you’ll want to know and questions you should be asking:
- Integration: What tools do they integrate with what you already use? Should you keep what you use or replace it? You should be able to find out if they specifically connect/sync to your CRM or email program; whether it’s Zoho CRM, Salesforce, HubSpot, or a lesser-known tool.
- Personalization: How much personalization can you do with the tool? Does it enable you to customize your emails, automate follow-ups, and segment customers? This is extremely important as you’d want to ensure that your customer interactions remain unique and human-like, not generic.
- Lead enrichment. Can this tool help build your database of contacts or will it cause you to lose data?
- Reporting: When you look at the analytics, what kind of insights do they provide? How much detail can you get from their reports? You should be able to analyze individual customer behavior and identify trends in order to make data-driven decisions.
- Outreach templates. Can you save templates to use throughout your sales pipeline? Does it automatically send when needed with the personalization you want?
- Native app or cloud. Where do you want the information to be stored and accessed? Are there native mobile apps you can use or only desktops?
- GDPR & General Regulations: Does it follow European -or foreign, rules for emailing and contact management? You wouldn’t want to be jeopardizing your company’s security by using software that doesn’t follow the required guidelines.
This may seem like a lot, but this all allows you to make your decision much easier. In this line, you’ll also want it to be relatively user-friendly and intuitive, but most are these days.
There may also be even more that you find you need to know depending on your specific needs, but these are a good starting point.
That’s why we recommend you use something like LaGrowthMachine! We provide the perfect blend of features and make the process of sales automation so much smoother for both sales reps and growth managers alike.
But, we’ll talk at length about LaGrowthMachine and the other sales automation tools in the next section.
So, hang around and read on. We promise it’ll be worth your time! 😉📈
Top 10 best automation software for sales
The ultimate goal may be to sell your product or service, but if you want to build a strong customer relationship, you’ll want to be able to focus on them.
That’s why sales automation software is so important, it represents the best of both worlds in creating a great customer experience and driving more sales.
Here are our picks for the top 10 sales automation tools:
LaGrowthMachine
With any sales automation software, you want to be sure it achieves the goals you’re looking to accomplish.
Well, with LaGrowthMachine, it does exactly that!
Import your leads from (almost) any source, enrich their profiles with just one click, and create multichannel prospecting routines with custom-designed sequences.
Plus, you can personalize all messages that go out so your leads feel like they’re communicating with an actual person and not a machine.
The choice really speaks for itself, LaGrowthMachine is the perfect all-in-one sales automation tool for businesses of any size;
- It integrates with almost any source
- Enriches lead profiles easily
- Provides a wide range of personalization capabilities
- Provides a singular interface for all your lead interactions in the Inbox tab
- Is GDPR-compliant
The tool offers reps a way to design a workflow that works best for them; no matter the product or service.
These routines will run on their own with each lead, reach out to every prospect, and help you set up automated follow-ups.
Save up to 40% of your daily routines with plans starting at 50 euros per month.
Whether you have a team or just you, each user can set up their own lead list and workflows for themselves. Customizing each to campaigns, products, prices, and more will gain more traction for you and your company.
Hubspot Sales
A great tool for someone looking to manage their contacts and call tracking is HubSpot Sales. It uses workflows to automate lead rotation and task creation and streamline prospect follow-up with sequences. It is also a connect-friendly tool if you’re using other sales automation software.
The HubSpot platform has been a reliable company for Marketing teams for many years and is consistently rated highly among users along with Salesforce. Their automation for campaigns offers a wide range of features including social media.
With both free and premium plans starting from free to $1,200/month for Enterprise, there’s a wide range available.
Leadsquared
LeadSquared is an end-to-end sales execution and marketing automation platform. Basically, LeadSquared simplifies your salesperson’s day by automating low-value, back-end tasks.
Businesses can set up sales workflows to track leads through the funnel and prioritize high quality prospects. The automation also allows salespeople to set up nurturing campaigns and set up reminders to ensure that no follow-ups are missed.
The best part? LeadSquared is easily customizable, easy-to-use, and integrates with over 100 tools! Managers utilize the sales performance management features to monitor their team’s productivity and efficiency. These insights help them improve the sales process.
LeadSquared’s affordable plans start at $25 per user/month. But businesses can also opt for customizable plans that suit their business’ requirements. Get in touch with their team to request a free plan or a demo!
DemandScience Intelligence (Leadiro)
With information on millions of companies, capabilities to connect to third-party applications, and guiding you on buyer’s intent Leadiro boasts to help you drive your lead generation and build your sales pipeline.
SalesOS
Zoominfo’s SalesOS platform has sales automation tools like auto-dialing and automated outreach campaigns. You can set up flows for different stages of your prospect’s buying journey.
Geared toward B2B, they have updated company information to help you contact a customer or lead at the right time. You can set up a customizable email to go out to certain people at any time you choose.
While they have a free trial, pricing varies based on the size of your organization, users, etc. so it requires contacting them via their website to find out more.
Clearbit
With a focus on sales teams, Clearbit is a solution built for scale. They claim to be able to identify prospects — even if they were anonymous. They also provide lead scoring, data reporting, and contact enrichment automations.
There is a pick-and-choose approach to their setup so you can customize your solution to your needs. This would be a great tool for a sales manager to identify, route, and track your sales team and their progress.
Pricing also varies on users per month as their website declares it to be custom-fitted to your needs.
Pega Sales
Pega Sales’ automation platform identifies hot leads through lead scoring and assists sales reps in moving a prospect down the sales funnel to a quick conversion.
It does this with features that identify key opportunities to cross-sell, upsell, and establish repeat purchases. Opportunity insights are based on current sales activity and historical benchmarks for similar deal types.
With plans starting at $140/user/month, Pega Sales aims to help teams improve their closing rates and forecasting with their automation.
Yesware
As a Google Chrome extension, Yesware can log and track your email sends. Since it’s integrated with other tools well, it’s free and quick to install. It can then check any website you allow to track your emails.
A tool like this can help you track which emails get the most reactions, which don’t work, and which get you sales. It also has a built-in calendar scheduler.
Pipedrive
The sales tool in Pipedrive’s arsenal contains options like triggering emails to send to keep your leads warm while you work on other priorities. It can also transfer ownership to another rep when a deal reaches a new stage or create activities each time a deal is moved along your pipeline.
They have a great range of pricing structures as well with the lowest tier at an affordable 14.90 euros/month. You can also choose to add features like the “Smart docs” to automate forms like signatures, emailing for the next steps, and filling out information.
This might be helpful for you if you’re currently using other tools like Google Sheets/Docs.
Overloop
Automate tasks and contact management with Overloop. Their LinkedIn extension is a great feature connecting to your LinkedIn account and automatically adding contacts to your CRM. Be cautious of LinkedIn limits though when adding accounts in bulk to your connections.
Pricing for this platform starts at $39/month for a single-user plan and connects to 3 email accounts. You can also check out the free trial.
Autoklose
One great thing marketers have embraced with every bone in their bodies is scheduling emails. Autoklose gives you this automation capability. It allows you to create messages when you have the time and send them at the right moment to your prospects and customers.
They also have a product that can help you with lead scoring, contact management, and a lead builder for targeted lists. Included in their features is tracking for unlimited campaigns.
Their wide range of products gives you plenty of options for your budget. If your company is looking for a plan that helps your reps nurture customers across email and social media platforms, this may be a good option for you.
Supporting tools
What other tools might benefit you in your sales pipeline? There are many out there, but once you go through your questions above, you’ll be able to determine what you actually need. Having too many will only result in confusion, messy data, and lost clients.
Find specific B2B lead generation tools that help you collect the best data. Use LinkedIn automation tools that help you find and communicate with your top leads and companies.
Quick Tip 💡
Avoid doubling up tools as this will not only cause confusion with you and your team. You won’t be able to find where you put anything if you end up using more than one.
Sales automation frees you
Being able to close deals faster with qualified prospects and leads is the end goal. Using automation software for sales saves you time and frees you up from those boring tasks. Understand your sales process for you or your reps and you’ll be able to see the workflow that will work best.
Then you can find the sales automation solution that’s right for you and your team and you’ll see that sales pipeline flow!
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